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3.7: Colour Mixing

  • Page ID
    139465
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    To our three-colour RGB vision, spectral colours can be simulated by subtracting bands from white light using just three filters (e.g. paints, ink or pigments). The subtractive primaries (CYM: cyan, yellow magenta) are the complementary colours to the additive primaries (R,G,B). A cyan filter or dye absorbs red light, yellow absorbs blue, magenta stops green. C+Y+M absorbs R, G and B, which in principle yields black (B). C+Y=G, C+M=B, Y+M=R. Because the eye is sensitive to even very low intensity, colour printing normally uses CYM and Black.  

    Learning Objectives
    • Colour mixing or printing uses three subtractive primaries, which are complementaries of R, G and B.

     

     

    Table \(\PageIndex{1}\)
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    3.7: Colour Mixing is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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